Edgecam Users Hear From Tooling and Holding Specialists

Edgecam customers from all over the UK attended a special users seminar at the Nuclear Advanced Manufacturing Research Centre in Rotherham. Edgecam became a member of the NAMRC earlier this year to enhance the UK civil nuclear manufacturing industry’s machining capabilities.

The NAMRC Machining Team works with members on engineering projects to improve their manufacturing techniques by bringing together the machine tool, cutting tool and software. The team chose to work with Edgecam specifically for its mill/turn and horizontal boring capabilities. Member companies can capitalise on productivity improvements through the manufacturing team and the use of Edgecam to optimise manufacturing processes and cycle times.

NAMRC’s Deputy Marketing Manager Jay Shaw explained that the Advanced Manufacturing Park has been funded for the next five years to bring high value manufacturing back to the UK. He said this would bridge the gap between university research and technology use within industry.

The day included a number of presentations from Edgecam engineers Lee Richards and Mike O’Neil, focusing on the Waveform Roughing Strategy, Advanced 5-axis machining and highlights from the 2013 R1 release, including:
• Wire EDM
• Four aspects of turning – Rough Profile Turn Cycles with cutter radius compensations and previous stock, Move sub spindle, U and V style groove, and Reverse Radial Tools
• Three milling features – pre drilled holes for Waveform, final clean up pass for Waveform finishing, and corner braking when profiling to reduce the need for deburring
• 5-axis Advanced module with specific multi-blade option, and 64-bit;
• Stock or for milling and turning.

Patrick Walker, the technical partner of Works Racing Motorcycles Ltd, uses Edgecam to personally machine the major castings and a number of internal parts for perfect replica engines of the classic Manx Norton racing bike from the late 1950s and early 1960s.

He told delegates how he had previously worked for Norton, TWR and Jaguar, before setting up his own company in 2007, and now builds the race-winning engines on his Haas Mini Mill2.

Angled around the phrase: “There are no bad cutting tools in the world today, it’s how you choose to use them,” the UK market-leader in cutting tools, Sandvik Coromant’s presentation focused on how to re-evaluate manufacturing processes to become more competitive.

Highlighting that the UK is the world’s sixth largest manufacturer with manufacturing contributing £150-billion to the national output, Sandvik said the industry represents 12 per cent of GDP, employing 3-million people directly and a further 1.5-million indirectly. With JLR, Honda and BMW all investing in the UK, Sandvik claimed the “death of UK manufacturing” was over-exaggerated.

Steve Eckersall, from CNC rotary table & NC tooling product manufacturer Nikken, said they currently produce 700 indexing rotary units a month, with 300 of those for 5-axis machines. The major driver is the ability to add a 5-axis rotary table to a 3-axis CNC machine. He also presented the new 5AX-100 Compact, with an emphasis on the softer materials used in the medical and dental industries.

Thame Workholding, in partnership with LANG-Technik.de are specialist manufacturers in vices and clamping devices, offering chuck jaws, special jaws, special chucks and vacuum fixings. Delegates learned about a solution which gives better access to the workpiece for 5-axis machining, which, although it holds onto the piece by just 3mm, it has exceptional holding power and reduced vibrations.